Yassa owns factories of industrial detergents in the Suez Canal axis, and the Ataqa mountain area that stretches along the Red Sea, as well as a factory of paints and coatings in the 10 th of Ramadan industrial area. All represent around one third of the petrochemical investments in Egypt, and considered to be big business sectors.

As recorded in the 2015 report of the Chamber of Chemical Industries (CCI) in Egypt, the total investment in chemical and petrochemical production in Egypt reached $30.35 billion. The investments in paints and resins are $7.65 billion, and those in detergents are $3.2 billion.

She also owns two factories of metals and wood, a company of hotels and hospitals equipment, commercial agencies, and an international accredited training center. Besides, Yassa has investments in Dubai that consist of two detergent factories, a yacht manufacturing company, a central laundry, and a group of different companies.

For a career, Yassa always dreamed of becoming a businesswoman. She made sure she was equipped with the necessary knowledge to achieve that goal. “I have never imagined being an employee since I was a student at university. I studied management, and later, I took courses in integrated development and in product design of chemicals in Germany. I created my own work and never partnered up with anybody. I only partnered up with my children when they grew up,” Yassa said.

Yassa had to defy the passive social perception of women in order to be an ace in her career. “The challenges were the patriarchy of the society as I was very young and I was a woman. The society frowned upon a very young woman being a manager,” Yassa said.

Yassa was able to step over problems. “I overcame these obstacles by ambition, commitment, and by sticking to principles and professional ethics. I was committed in terms of workers’ and customers’ rights, and I fulfilled the demands of the work. My father was my role model,” Yassa said. That is why there is a huge picture of the deceased father along with a tribute in the middle of the company’s headquarter.

“At that time in 1999, it was difficult for a businesswoman to meet a minister or an official, as they used to not take her seriously.

On a further bright side, the discriminatory acts encountered by Yassa did not just challenge her to thrive in her career but they were also the reason she established the Arab Women Investors Association. “That is because it was important to have an institution that would voice out businesswomen’s demands,” Yassa said. She first established the Association of Businesswomen for Development in 1999, and then established the union. “At that time in 1999, it was difficult for a businesswoman to meet a minister or an official, as they used to not take her seriously. However, when we later became an NGO, it has been easier to meet and deal with officials,” Yassa stated.

The union has been established in Egypt in 2005 by the decree Number 1272 issued by the Arab ministers of economy at the Arab League as a part of a framework to strengthen mutual investments and economic relations between Arab countries, according to the Arab Women Investors Union’s website.

The union is constructing the industrial city, Midom, to host Arab investments in Egypt, according to the union’s website. The union contributed by $100 million in the “Capital Gas” project that aims at refining gas in the Eastern Desert.

The project’s construction started in 2014 and will end later in 2016 through an Egyptian-Kuwaiti- Lebanese investment coalition, according to El Mogaz newspaper. The union is also launching two projects the Royal University, and Business Park, a city that will provide services for businessmen in the Sixth of October city, according to El Mogaz newspaper.

In addition, the union will build solar and air power plants in South Sinai and Upper Egypt that will produce at the beginning 50MW, increasing its capacity to reach 3GW in the future, according to El Wafd newspaper.

The union founded the Arab Investment for Economic Development company to facilitate trade between Arab countries opening new markets for investors, and to provide consultation and feasibility studies. It also established the economic magazine “The Pearl of Arabs,” according to the union’s website.

The union is engaged in many other community service projects that aim to contribute in human development in Egypt and the Arab World. For instance, the union signed an agreement of mutual cooperation with Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO). Through that agreement, 107 small projects have been achieved in the governorate of Sohag.

In parallel, the union is investing and executing huge projects beyond the Egyptian borders. Yassa signed a memorandum of understanding with the Yemeni ministry of petroleum to develop and enlarge the petroleum refinery of Ma’reb, increasing its daily output to be 25,000 barrels of oil instead of 10,000 and to improve the oil derivatives to match the international standards of quality.

The union will invest 128 million pounds in Sudan. One hundred million pounds will be directed to establishing a solar energy plant, while $2 million will be invested in a canned fish factory. Also, it will build a factory for blood products devices, which will be the first of its kind in the Middle East, according to El Dostor newspaper. That is in addition to building a detergents factory, and El Bashir Medical City, which will be a huge project, according to El Wafd newspaper.

On the other hand, the union plans to expand in Africa, so that Yassa signed cooperation agreements with the government of Uganda through the support of Uganda’s first lady, according to the Union’s website.